Venus

Decided to have a go at finding Venus during the
day. Not the best of days to try given that there was a lot of
cloud around — I'd estimate that at least 75% of the sky was
covered with cloud.

I first checked the location of Venus with Starry Night
to be sure of where I needed to look (roughly South and about
20Â° above the horizon). I positioned myself against the
wall of our garage so that I was in its shadow — that way
there was no chance of me accidently looking at the Sun while
scanning with the binocular.

By about 14:33 UT I found Venus. I made sure
that no cloud was going to get in the way for the next minute and
then put the binocular down and looked with the naked eye. I could
find Venus with no problem. I looked away for a few moments and
looked back again and could still see it.

I popped indoors to make the above note and then popped back out
again. This time I couldn't find the planet either with naked eye
or with the binocular. I think this was probably because it was
being obscured by cloud.

By 14:46 UT more cloud was moving in, some
of which was looking like it might give rain, so I ended the
session. Had the weather been more favourable I would have taken
the 130M out into the garden and had a look
though that.

Partial solar eclipse

The morning started totally overcast and this never changed during
the period of the whole event. Sometime around
08:43 UT until about
09:19 UT (around the time of maximum
coverage here) I did note that light levels seemed to drop outside
but I'm not really sure if this was down to the eclipse or if it
was just a coincidental thickening of the cloud.

Kemble's Cascade

Although I've read about it a number of times before this was the
first time I'd seen it for myself and I was quite surprised at
just how straight the line of stars appeared to be. I was very
happy to have finally seen it.

At 19:58 UT, while looking with the
binocular, I saw a very faint satellite pass right through the
cascade, about two thirds of the way "down" the line.

Mars and M45

Noticed that Mars and M45 had
now risen above the roofs to the east of me. Looking at them both
with the binocular I estimated that they were no more (and perhaps
slightly less) than two binocular field widths apart.

Mars, in the binocular, was interesting in that it was obviously a
non-stellar object. I'm not sure if this was just down to
brightness/contrast or if I actually was seeing a hint of a disc.
The colour in the binocular was a rather vivid orange.

By 20:27 UT there seemed to be more mist
forming. It was getting increasingly hard to see
M45 with the naked eye. The sky above me,
however, seemed as clear as ever — perhaps a little darker
and clearer than it was at the start of the session.

Mist and smoke

By 20:27 UT there seemed to be more mist
forming. It was getting increasingly hard to see
M45 with the naked eye. The sky above me,
however, seemed as clear as ever — perhaps a little darker
and clearer than it was at the start of the session.

Also, around this time, I noticed my first hazard of winter
observing: smoke from people's fires. Given that nights are
getting colder now and given that I'm surrounded on three sides by
people who have and use open fireplaces I wonder how much of an
obstacle this will be?

NGC 1502 and testing dark adaption

After checking a couple of books, a couple of charts, and some
pages on the net I realised that,
earlier,
when I'd been looking at Kemble's Cascade, I'd also been looking
at NGC 1502.

At this point I realised that the cascade is also an interesting
test of how dark adapted I am. I'd popped indoors to check the
books, charts and the net and, obviously, I'd exposed myself to
normal lighting and so had ruined the dark adaption that I'd built
up earlier. When I came back outside and went to look at the
cascade again I could hardly make it out — initially all I
could see were the brighter stars that are around it.

As the minutes passed the cascade again became more and more
visible in the binocular. I think this might serve as a useful
gauge of how dark adapted I am (and how transparent my skies are)
during the course of winter.

The Hyades

At 21:11 UT I noticed that the Hyades
(AKA Melotte 25,
Caldwell 41) had cleared the roofs to the East of me.
While they were hard to make out with the naked eye due to the
rising mist I could clearly see them with the binocular.

In the binocular Aldebaran was interesting to watch
as it was twinkling between red and green. I took from this that
the mist really was making a mess of things and that the air
wasn't very steady at all. Earlier I had been thinking about
getting the 130M out to have a look at
Mars but at the time the rising mist put me off.
If the view I had of Aldebaran in the binocular was anything to go
by this was probably a good decision.

By 21:15 UT the cold and the damp was
starting to get a little too much so I decided to call an end to
the session. I wasn't really that well dressed for the conditions
— I'm going to have to dig out some of my winter gear for
future sessions.

Mars

First located Mars with the 25mm
eyepiece. Even with such a low power (x36 on the
130M) I could easily tell that I was
looking at a disk that seemed to be displaying a bit of a phase.
The image was bright and displayed spikes corresponding to the
arms of the spider that hold the secondary mirror in the 'scope.
The image seemed very steady.

Switched to the 6mm eyepiece. The image
looked huge and rather unsteady. Quite a bit of false colour was
visible around the edge of the planet. The image didn't look very
crisp and was rather unsteady. Without any sort of filter in place
the surface still seemed very bright and rather washed out.
However, there did seem to be an obvious variation in the colour
of the disk hinting at some sort of surface feature.

At first glance the feature had the appearance of a short, thick
line across the face of the planet.

Added the #21 Orange filter to the 6mm
eyepiece. The image now seemed a lot sharper and the false colour
was gone. However, there did appear to be an occasional fringe to
the edge of the planet. The "line" that I mention above now seemed
a bit more obvious and, with the Orange filter, seemed to take on
a more "arrowhead" appearance.

The sight of the marking seemed to come and go and was rather
fleeting. One moment it seemed very obvious to the eye and then
the next it was rather indistinct. While the shape didn't appear
to change as the view came and went I noted that it would have
been very difficult to sketch.

After that I tried the #56 Green filter
with the 6mm eyepiece. No real detail of any sort was obvious with
this combination. I'd have said that the image seemed about the
same as with the unfiltered 6mm eyepiece — only greener.

Around this time (21:25 UT) the house below
where Mars was positioned lit a fire and there was a fair bit of
smoke coming from the chimney. None of the smoke appeared to be
getting in the way of my view of the planet but I imagine that the
warm air that was rising from the fire interfered with subsequent
views.

Now switched to the 6mm with just the
ND13 filter to see what
effect it would have. The view didn't seem any different from the
view without a filter expect that it was dimmer (which was pretty
much what I expected to see).

Despite not being able to tease any extra obvious detail out of
the image the thing that was most impressing me by this time was
the difference in the size of the image of Mars when compared to
the first time I
looked at it in the 130M. Even though I knew this was
going to happen (that the apparent diameter would increase over
time) the difference was still quite striking.

Next I tried with the 6mm and the #11
Yellow/Green filter. For a few brief moments, when the
image seemed very steady, I was sure I could see slightly more
detail than I had earlier. This was, however, a very
brief view. I wasn't sure if this was down to the choice of
filter, a lucky moment of very steady seeing or simply that Mars
was now higher in the sky than when I'd started the observation
session. Could simply have been a combination of all of the above.

Finally I decided to try with the 10mm eyepiece
and the 2x barlow plus the #21 Orange filter.
This seemed to be a good combination. Now I could see what
appeared to be two darker areas on the surface. One seemed to be a
vaguely rounded but linear feature (sort of an elongated oval) and
the other appeared circular and smaller. The contrast wasn't great
and, as with other filter and eyepiece combinations, the view
seemed to come and go but there was no doubt that I was seeing
slightly more than I was before.

What was most surprising about this combination was that, in the
past, I've had focus trouble with the barlow and had more or less
given up on using it. However, this time, the image seemed to come
to a pretty crisp focus.

Double Cluster

Given that it was now very well positioned for me to view with the
'scope I pointed the 130M at the Double
Cluster (AKA Caldwell 14 or NGC 869 and
NGC 884) in Perseus. At first glance it looked
like a rather sparse grouping of stars with two obvious areas of
concentration. However, as my eyes adjusted both areas of
concentration seemed to become richer and richer. I noted that
both of the main concentrations fitted in the field of view of the
25mm eyepiece.

M1

Although it was still very low, just above the houses to the East
of me and still in the thin mist, I couldn't resist trying to have
a look for M1 (AKA The Crab
Nebula or NGC 1952) in Taurus.

Using the 25mm eyepiece on the
130M I found it with little trouble. It was
rather hard to make out (most probably due to the conditions under
which I was trying to observe it). It had no real obvious shape to
it, all I could see was an indistinct but visible "ghostly
presence". Given that it was (just) visible in such bad conditions
I image that it will make for a good target when it is higher in
the sky.

By 22:40 UT I was starting to feel the cold
and was also starting to feel tired so decided to call an end to
the session.

A fair bit of cloud about with the sky washed out by a waning gibbous
Moon (around 96% illumination). This wasn't
really a problem as the purpose of this little session was to see how
well a little telescope would perform against the Moon.

Test of telescope against the Moon

Doing another test of a rubbish little telescope that
I first tested back in July this
year. The 'scope has been sat doing nothing for quite
some time and, having recently purchased a sheet of Baader solar
filter, I've been thinking about making a filter for it and using
it as a cheap little solar telescope.

I mounted the 'scope on a photographic
tripod, lined it up on the
Moon and worked through each of the
lenses. With the 17.5mm, 12mm and 9mm the Moon easily fitted in
the field of view (obviously increasing in size with each lens).
In all three cases the image appeared to be sharp with no fringing
or false colour.

Next I tried each lens with the 3x barlow that came with the
'scope. In this case there did appear to be fringing and false
colour in the image and the focus never seemed to be very sharp.
The 17.5mm plus barlow combination gave an image of the Moon that
was still fully visible, the 12mm gave an image that more or less
filled the field of view and the 9mm gave an image that exceeded
the field of view.

Given that a filter for this 'scope wouldn't use up much of the
Baader sheet (the objective is just 50mm in diameter) I think I'll
have a go at making one and seeing how it performs. Even if the
images aren't that good with the barlow in place the size of the
images without it are acceptable. It might work out to be a handy
tool to have alongside the Solarscope when
doing some solar observing.

A mostly cloudy evening but I noticed that there was a good sized gap
in the clouds moving in so I decided to set the
130M up and have a look at
Mars while I had the chance (this being the evening
of the closest approach to Earth for
this apparition
I wanted to try and get a view no matter how short the session might
be). Due to the danger of more cloud moving in I didn't have any time
to let the 'scope cool down.

Meteor

I'd just finished setting up the 130M and
was just dropping in the 25mm eyepiece
when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a
meteor. It lasted long enough for my
full attention to be drawn to it and I followed it for a good
fraction of a second (perhaps a little more).

It moved from east to west and, as best as I could tell, it passed
through the Square of Pegasus. It grew
steadily brighter until it finally broke up in a shower of smaller
pieces which rapidly faded from view. I might even go so far as to
suggest it was a fireball.

Sadly, because I was distracted by rushing to set up the 'scope
before any more cloud could come over, I didn't spend too much
time making any useful notes and double checking the path it took.

Mars

Got Mars centred in the 25mm
eyepiece's field of view and then set up and switched
on the motor drive. Once I was happy that
everything was set up fine and the drive was running okay I
immediately went to switch to the 6mm
eyepiece. By the time I'd dropped that in cloud had
obscured Mars.

With the 6mm Mars looked very big and very bright. Hardly any hint
of colour, looked very white. Noted that, unlike all the other
views I've had of Mars this apparition, there was no hint of a
phase visible to me. Even without a filter I could see a slight
hint of a mark on the surface that looked like a simple dark line.

After a number of combinations I found, at
21:16 UT, that the 10mm
eyepiece with the 2x Barlow and
the #21 filter offered the best view
so far. The dark line was very obvious but indistinct in terms of
figuring out any detail and its extent. I did think about
sketching it but decided not to given how little there was to make
a note of.

There were some moments where the image (which wasn't that
unsteady) seemed to become really steady and I thought I saw a
hint of further markings. However, as quickly as I noticed them
they'd disappear.

By 21:51 UT I'd tried various combinations
of lens, barlow and filter but every combination failed to deliver
any extra detail. Happily this wasn't a disappointing experience.
There was a lot of fun to be had in trying the different
combinations and also in simply comparing the view I had with
previous views I've had. Mars was visibly bigger
(and brighter) than any observation before this one.

By 22:02 UT I was starting to lose Mars
behind some thin cloud (and I could see more cloud moving in). It
was interesting to note that the thinest cloud appeared to improve
the view. At the time I was using the 6mm
eyepiece with the #21
filter.